


Who Wants Cake?

by thatonedudewiththename



Series: winter, wings, shields, and guns [2]
Category: Captain America - All Media Types
Genre: Domestic, Fluff, Gen, PTSD?, Podfic Length: 10-20 Minutes, also angst i guess, it was supposed to be cute, they make a cake
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-27
Updated: 2014-05-27
Packaged: 2018-01-26 17:58:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,035
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1697330
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thatonedudewiththename/pseuds/thatonedudewiththename
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Takes place not long after Steve and Sam find Bucky and take him home. Steve is bored and decides to try and make his favourite dessert— apple cake.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Who Wants Cake?

**Author's Note:**

> A remix of an rp me and a friend did. Also I don't own Cards Against Humanity.  
> Now includes the podfic.

Podfic: [Length: 11 min. 7 sec.](http://www.mediafire.com/watch/6ij4242j3g0avrw/Who_Wants_Cake.m4a)

On Sam's bookshelf in his living room, Steve finds a well-worn cookbook whilst browsing for something to read. He flips through to the dessert and pastry section and finds the recipe for apple cake bookmarked; "Captain America's fave", it reads in baby Sam handwriting. Steve grins and says to himself, "Looks like I'll make this, then." Taking the cookbook, he walked to the kitchen and began getting the required ingredients out, also taking out a cakepan and preheating the oven.  
From the sofa, he hears shuffling and bare feet pattering over to just right behind him to his right. "Что вы-I mean, what are you making?"  
Steve turns to Bucky from his pouring of flour into a bowl and smiles a little. "Apple cake. You and me, we used to make it all the time... yaknow, back then." By now, he'd turned back to the cookbook and bowl, measuring out baking powder and salt.  
"Yeah, I remember," Bucky made a strange, almost reminisent expression as he looked at Steve, as though he were seeing flashbacks.  
"You wanna help?" Steve asked, not turning away from the bowl or the ingredients.  
Bucky nodded once, almost uniformly. "Sure." He left, and Steve heard the sink water turn on behind him. There was some splashing, then Bucky returned with slightly damp hands. "What do you want me to do?"  
"You can get the wet ingredients and mix them, if you want, in another bowl." Steve replied in a gentle tone; he took special care not to make it sound like an order. Bucky didn't appear to take it as such and got another, smaller bowl from the cabinet near the fridge and took the wet ingredients (water, milk, eggs, vanilla extract, oil) that his... friend had already gotten out and measured them before putting them in the bowl. He began to mix it all together as he walked back to Steve's side, but he misjudged the strength of his metal arm and ended up splattering it all everywhere; mostly on himself. Steve, hearing the squelching and mumbled Russian curse words, turned around to find his lifelong best friend covered in egg mixture. He laughed lightheartedly and took a dishcloth from the oven handle and wiped his face off. "Sorry," Bucky said.  
"It's alright, it happens to the best of us," Steve chuckled, finishing with his cleaning. "You wanna change, or do you want to redo the wet ingredients?"  
"I'll redo," Bucky took the bowl he was still holding and went back to his previous workspace, measuring and pouring and mixing until he had everything as it was before, going back to Steve, who was waiting for him, with the bowl.  
"Thank you, Bucky." Cap took the mixture and added it to the dry ingredients. He was about to add in the apple chunks and stir it all together when the front door opened and Sam called out, "I'm home! Where ya'll at?"  
"Kitchen!" Steve called back, dumping the small glass bowl full of diced Honeycrisp apples into the half-blended batter. He began to finish blending as Sam strode into the kitchen, both arms carrying two grocery bags for a total of four.  
"Do you need help?" Bucky questioned, almost jumping to attention. He was still wary of this man called Sam, but Steve seemed to like him well enough so he figured he could try to begin to trust him.  
"Yeah, man, thanks. What are you boys makin', cake?" Sam peered over to the counter where Steve was working as he unloaded the groceries; some cans, spaghetti sauce, spaghetti and angel hair pasta noodles, various types of vegetables, eggs and bread.  
"Yeah, actually. Apple cake." Steve answered with a smile, turning to the shorter man. "I saw you marked it in your cookbook."  
Sam feigned bashfulness. "I was a big fan when I was a kid. My favourite book was _Captain America and the Howling Commandos._ "  
That made Steve grin, holding up the cake pan and lightly spraying it with nonstick spray. He pivoted back to Sam and asked, "You wanna do the honours?" Motioning with the full bowl of batter to the pan.  
"Sure." Sam left Bucky to finish putting away the groceries (though he felt bad) and arrived at Steve's left, taking the bowl and spreading the batter evenly around the bottom of the pan, Steve taking a rubber spatula and scraping the excess into it.  
"Bucky, your turn." Steve said. Bucky left the pantry where he'd been organising the canned goods and switched places with Sam. He took the full cakepan and slid it into the oven on the middle rack, Steve taking out his phone and setting a timer for 25 minutes.  
The three sat at the table and played Cards Against Humanity-a present from Tony last year that Steve never got to use-awaiting the eventual ring of the timer going off. However, it was the ring of the doorbell that interrupted their game instead of the cake. "Я открою." (I'll get it.) Bucky said quickly as he shot up from the table before either friend could even react. He pattered over to the front door and called while peeking through the peephole, "Кто это?" (Who is it?)  
"Наташа Романова и Клинт Бартон." (Natalia Romanova and Klint Barton.) Answered a female voice now identified as Natasha, accompanied by her partner Clint.  
Bucky knew Natasha, and Clint had been over once or twice, but although he didn't trust them he opened the door and allowed them inside, shuffling back over to the table and sitting down. "What smells so good?" Clint asked, tossing his jacket over the back of the sofa as he walked past, sniffing.  
"Apple cake. Steve's favourite." Sam replied, eying Clint's choice of jacket placement disapprovingly.  
Natasha, however, had chosen a better place for her jacket: the coat hanger by the door. _"Apple_ cake, huh? First time for everything, I guess." She and Clint sat in the remaining chair that had its back to the window (no one used it for specifically that reason) and turned it so it was facing the living room like Sam's was. "What're we playing?"  
"Cards Against Humanity." Steve's eyebrows raised as he said it and he sighed in a "wow" sort of way. "Tony gave it to me."  
"'Course he did," Clint commented, taking a few cards from the deck for he and Nat. As he was reviewing his picks, his eyes caught Bucky's and he was slightly taken aback. There was something... kindred in them, like a vague reflection of his own after... after Nat had brought him back from Loki's control. After a few seconds, Bucky lowered his gaze to his cards and the moment was lost. He felt a nudge on his shoulder and looked in Natasha's direction to find her giving him The Eye, the one that read, "Don't get sucked back", to which he replied with The Jaw; "I won't".  
"My turn," Steve's voice cut through the quiet air that had somehow settled over the group, the slight _flick_ of his cards against the table as he set them down. "During sex, I like to think about-" his face went red, and the sentence from the second card fell from his lips.  
Sam reached across the table and picked both cards up. He read them, Steve covering his face with his hands. "During sex, I like to think about-" His eyes read faster than his lips and he burst out laughing, nearly falling from his chair. Shaking, he slid the cards to Bucky, who cracked a smile and finally managed to say what other two couldn't. "During sex, I like to think about Hitler and his sexy moustache."  
Natasha and Clint joined Sam in his fit of laughter, the noise so loud that no one heard the timer for the cake go off; save Bucky, as he had not been laughing. "The cake's done," he announced bluntly. When no one made a move to get it, he stood up and took care of it himself (almost ripping the oven door off, but that's not important), setting the cake on the cooling rack that Steve had gotten out, turning off the oven and returning to his seat just as the howls of laughter had died down. "Here's your mobile," he gave Steve his phone.  
"Wha-is the cake done?" Steve stood a bit from his chair to look over the counter next to the sink to the oven.  
"Yeah, I took care of it." Bucky said, shuffling his cards.  
Steve smiled. "Thanks, Bucky!"  
"Yeah, thanks, Bucky."  
"You're the best."  
"Way to go."  
The others complimented him-after all, positive reinforcement is a very important step in the healing process. Bucky did a one-shoulder shrug, but really, secretly he liked the praise. "Well, we better keep playin' while it cools down. If the rest are as good as Steve's, we'll all be burning enough calories that'll be replaced by the cake." Sam said, taking up his cards again.

No one waited longer than they had to to eat the cake made by the residents of the house; and boy, was it worth it. "Steve, this is amazing," Natasha mumbled through her mouthful of moist apple-y goodness.  
Steve waited to swallow before he replied, "Couldn't have done it without Bucky,"  
"Me too!" Sam feigned a hurt tone.  
"And Sam, couldn't have done it without Sam." Steve added, giving his friend a playful look, which was reciprocated.  
"Thanks, Bucky," Clint thanked the quiet man in an also quiet tone. He received a nod in response.  
"Who wants to marathon Disney movies?" Sam asked in a loud voice as he stood up with an empty plate and licked-clean fork.  
"Count me in," Nat raised her fork, which had a bit of cake on it.  
"Me two." Clint spoke up.  
"Me three." Steve chimed in.  
"Me four, I guess." Bucky stood up and began to clear everything away.  
Clint stood, also. "Let me help."  
Natasha flicked her head to Sam and Steve for them to move things to the living room and give the boys their space; she could tell there were things Clint wanted to discuss with Bucky, and she didn't want to crowd them.  
As Nat, Sam, and Steve left their plates in the sink and went to pick the first movie to watch, Clint and Bucky cleared the table and started to rinse the dishes. They worked in relative silence for a time, until Clint cleared his throat and managed to get out in a low whisper as he set the dishes in the dishwasher, "Y'know, I was... I was brainwashed, too."  
Bucky faltered a bit in his rinsing of the bowl they'd used to mix the batter, but he quickly picked back up again. "Yeah?" He replied quietly, passing Clint the blue plastic bowl.  
"Yeah," Clint took it and set it in the bottom rack, "two years ago. Demigod named Loki took over my mind with his magical staff and made me do some..." he placed his wrists on his hips, staring down at the dishes, "some not-very-nice stuff."  
Bucky held out a handful of measuring spoons, spatulas, and knives, eyes on the running faucet. "I've done some not-very-nice things." His gaze was distant. Natasha's "Don't get sucked back" jumped to mind, making Clint reach out to him before his instincts could tell him different.  
"Hey," he whispered, hand on Bucky's right shoulder, almost barely there. Bucky restrained his reflex to drop Clint to the floor, instead turning his head sharply in the archer's direction. "Don't get sucked back. Everything's gone now. Okay?" Clint wasn't one to give pep talks (Cap was the motivational speech-type guy, not him), but his little whisper seemed to bring Bucky back, and the muscle beneath his hand-barely-loosened.  
"Hey! You losers done back there?" Nat shouted from her spot on the sofa.  
"We're coming!" Clint yelled, eyes flickering for a second to her before coming back to Bucky.  
"Thank you," Bucky mouthed, shoulder slipping away from beneath the other male's hand as he returned to the sink.  
Clint let his hand linger in the air a moment longer before lowering his arm. "You're welcome."

End


End file.
